The protest at Bootle Town Hall tonight was a fantastic show of unity by public sector workers. Around 200 people turned out in the cold to wave flags, hold up placards and sing chants such as: ‘Con Libs get out, we know what you’re all about: Cuts, job losses, money for the bosses!’ and: ‘You say cut back, we say fight back!’ A little lad of about ten, who was there with his mum, was leading a lot of the chants!
The protest was organised by the three main public sector unions, Unite, Unison and GMB, which have had their differences in the past but are united in the fight against job cuts and cuts to public services in Sefton.
Many of the protesters were carers who work for New Directions, which is in disarray and facing the chop.
Early on a man, who I believe is a councillor, asked protesters: “We need to make cuts – where do you propose we save money?” to cries of: “Tax the rich!” and: “Resign!”
A Labour councillor later told the group that all Labour councillors would be voting against cuts at the meeting.
A Unison activist, who I think was named Danny Summers, addressed the protest, saying: “There is an alternative to these cuts; let’s not buy into the myth that these cuts are necessary. The alternative is clear: £120bn every year goes unclaimed in tax, usually by the super rich; £78bn the Lib Dems said they would save by scrapping Trident. There’s more billions to be had with a Robin Hood tax, a tax on transactions in the financial institutions. The alternatives are there but this government does not want to look at these alternatives. The attacks on public services are an ideological attack; they see us as the peasants, that we should know our place in society. They say we should just put up with it but enough is enough – we’ll make these people pay at the ballot box at the local elections this year and in years to come. I say to Sefton councillors tonight: be bold, be imaginative, speak out for public services, for the young, the vulnerable, the elderly, who depend on your services, otherwise we’ll make you suffer at the ballot box.”
Glen Williams from Unison also spoke, criticising the contracting out of services to the likes of Capita and Arvato: “£260m of contracts and the promise of 450 jobs... none of those jobs have been created with a penalty of just £22,000. If you’re going to treat New Directions the same way as you’re being treated by Capita and Arvato, think again. We will fight this tooth and nail. Any votes for any cuts means not a single vote for an elected member (at the next election). We have got to vote these out if they vote through these cuts.” He later told BBC News Northwest: “The next step is to work with the council to propose alternatives to job cuts and misery for the people of Sefton.”
A Unison leaflet proposed saving money by: clawing back money from private contracts, creatively managing turnover of staff, making schools (which have £12m in reserves) pay for their services and extending loan repayments. It also stated that the council pays its top eight executives £1m a year, and pointed out that for every 100 jobs which are lost in the public sector, 41 will be lost in the private sector, and that for every £1 paid to a public sector employee, 74p is reinvested in the local community.
I didn’t stay for the council meeting itself because only 100 were allowed in. I had my baby with me, so we headed home just before the council meeting started. I’m sure the trade unionists did us proud in there though!
By Nina Killen (the other half of SACC)
The council voted through the proposed cuts program to cries of "shame!" from a packed public gallery.
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